In this episode of “The Other Streets of Philadelphia,” our hosts delve into the life of Jim Littrell while discussing racism in the leadership and volunteers of early AIDS task forces answering the question, “How did white gay men deal with the issue of race during the AIDS epidemic?” They discuss the early life of Littrell and how he became the director of the Philadelphia AIDS Task Force and later ACTION AIDS. Our hosts discuss the tensions that grew amongst organizers due to the racial makeup of leadership and the actions of some of the white gay volunteers. They then discuss the actions and leadership of ACT UP in comparison to early task forces and the importance of looking at the full picture before making conclusions about a single organization or person while analyzing history.

Timecode Guide:

Host Segment (00:00)

Introduction (06:41)

Jim’s Early Life (08:30)

Tensions (14:38)

ACT UP (21:16)

Anti-racism (32:08)

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For Transcript